St. Cecelia: Model of Faith, Hope in Persecution

THE LOMBARDY REGION of Italy is today the site of great devastation and death by the coronavirus. This area has a long Catholic heritage. The Lombards were fierce barbarians who invaded the region of Italy after the fall of the Roman Empire. They, as other invaders, were converted to the Catholic Faith. St. Cecilia has...

Pope St John XXIII Blessing the Agnus Deis

Agnus Deis are discs of wax impressed with an image of the Lamb of God, and often with the arms of the Pope or the image of a Saint on the reverse. They were traditionally blessed by the Popes as described by the old Catholic Encyclopedia: “The great consecration of Agnus Deis took place only in the...

What Does Jesus Mean When He Tells Mary Magdalene Not to Cling to Him Because He Has Not Yet Ascended?

As the Easter Octave unfolds, we have in the Gospel this enigmatic statement of Our Lord Jesus to Mary Magdalene: Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God...

The Smoking Gun Finally Appears

From One Mad Mom Alright, alright. I know everyone is looking at THE exhortation to end all exhortations and adding their own spin on it but there was some other HUGE news it seemed like many missed. In fact, I think the liberal “married priests & woman deaconesses/priestess” types are very happy to have people...

On the Need for Moderation, Even in Learning.

From Msgr. Charles Pope A while back on this blog we reflected on the puzzling truth that we can endure more pain than pleasure. We seem to be able to endure a lot of pain, but we can endure only a little pleasure at a time. In fact, too much pleasure actually brings pain: sickness,...

A Plea for the Restoration of Latin and Latinity

From One Peter Five I could write at considerable length about the value and the glory of the Latin language. I spend some of my time teaching Latin. You may imagine how I feel when somebody says to me that “Latin is a dead language” or “What, after all, is the use of Latin, these...

Prayer to God the Father

Prayer to God from St. Ambrose of Milan

Graduation Card Insert

A friend of ours graduated this year from high school, home schooled, and after reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho decided to include a few quotes in her card along with some other ending quotes. “What is the world’s greatest lie?” the little boy asks. The old man replies, “It’s this: that at a certain...

Difference between Catholic and Protestant Bibles

If someone asked you, "What is the difference between the Catholic and Protestant Bible?" Would you know what to say? Well a real short answer is the differences are in the number of books of the Old Testament. But for an explanation of what an why we need to dig a little deeper. I have...

How much of the Bible is included in the Lectionary for Mass?

The Catholic Lectionary web site has some detailed statistics on books and verses from the bible used in Sunday and Weekday masses - pre Vatican II and after. The statistics take into account the full lectionary (except Psalms) which does change according to the established yearly cycles - see more information on the lectionary at...